Laura Vegas

adornit blog hop

November 12, 2009

time for another adornit blog hop. this is part of the make it merry blog party, which is all about christmas projects. if you're just finding out about this, be sure to go back HERE to get to the start. click on the first blog, and then just hop from one to the next to see what everyone came up with for this.

i've been really short on time and energy this week. and i think that is natural for this time of year. even though my busyness (is that a word?) has nothing to do with the holidays, it's just everything else in my life. but it makes me think about the holidays and how we run out of time for certain things. like making cards for our friends and family. here's the thing. there is no rule that says we have to spend an hour on every card we make.

i made these four little 4×4 cards in about 15 minutes today. i had 3 sheets of pattern paper, 2 sticker sheets, and some scraps of cardstock. and i have plenty left for more cards. i put the stickers on scraps of white cardstock, and then cut them out so that i could adhere them to the cards with pop dots for some dimension. but other than that, i just cut a few squares of cardstock and pattern paper and layered them together. so simple. but they're still cute.

next stop on the blog hop is may flaum. have fun hopping around and hope you find some great ideas you can incorporate into your christmas creations 🙂
this made me smile today

November 12, 2009

the fedex dude came to my house two times this morning. bringing me some assignments and a box of fun adhesives. then the UPS dude pulled up, and brought me this.

a very sweet and thoughtful friend sent me this. totally unexpected, which makes it even more cool of her to do. when i saw the cover and the "how do i do it?", i got really excited. i thought she had decided to finally let me in on all her secrets, on how she does it all. because she's a serious pro at doing it all, and doing it very efficiently. turns out, this is a planner. so that i can finally start keeping track of all i have going on. she's been telling me for months that i need to get a planner. and i guess she knows me enough by now, to know that i'll totally procrastinate on actually getting one for myself. so she took care of me. love my friends 🙂
a thankful layout

November 11, 2009

each wednesday this month, the making memories blog is sharing layouts by the design team about something we're thankful for. this week is my turn. here's a peek. but you have to click HERE to see the entire layout and see what i'm thankful for 🙂
a thriller spectacular

November 10, 2009

for the past few years, 2 of the 5th grade teachers have put on a "thriller spectacular" right before halloween. they work with their two classes and teach them a dance routine set to a medley of michael jackson songs. sarah's teachers is one of those teachers, so she got to participate in it this year. be forewarned. these are your typical, not-so-great school gym photos. i did the best i could. edited to add: for some reason, i feel the need to clarify this. only because i read this post again, and thought that last comment wasn't even true. i did NOT try my best with these photos. lol! i literally just took out my camera and snapped a few photos. didn't even check settings or use my external flash. that might have helped. just sayin 😉

they practiced this routine for 6 weeks together. sarah would come home from school and be dancing around the house, practicing. never to music though. i kept telling her to find the music. but she would just do it all in her head. for their preformance, they all wore black jeans, white tshirts, and their teachers had one black glove for each of them. they performed this quite a few times that day. they did the lower grades in the morning. sarah said that they were doing them first, so that if they messed up, no one would really notice. lol!

the parents came for the last performance of the day. we were in there with the junior high kids, so it was really crazy in there. the kids did such a great job, and the crowd loved it. times like these when i wish i had a video camera. but we're able to get DVD copies from the school, so i'm doing that.

sarah and her two BFF's, natalia and tawny. on another note, the 5th graders went to science camp last week. sarah opted to stay here and not go. i was kind of bummed, because i know how much alyssa LOVED science camp. but i also know my girl. and she's not one to leave mom and dad quite as easily as some kids. if it had been a night or two, i might have pushed her more. but it was 4 nights and 5 days. and i knew my girl couldn't handle that. so she stayed, and still went to school. and she missed her two BFF's more than anything. i felt so bad for her. it was the longest week not having them at school with her. so i know she was so excited to go to school yesterday, and see them again!
giveaway winners

November 9, 2009

the winners from the making memories giveaways were announced HERE. congrats to amanda h, who was the random winner choose from my blog!

hope to be back blogging later tonight, or maybe tomorrow. we had a very busy weekend here. end of season tournament for soccer. we spend 9 hours straight on the fields on saturday, and 7 hours straight on sunday. 8 games total, 4 for alyssa and 4 for sarah. so we're all dead tired and trying desperately to catch up on life right now. more later 🙂
just chillin giveaway

November 6, 2009

making memories is such an awesome manufacturer to work for. and i think it's so cool that three of their designers were chosen for the 2010 creating keepsakes dream team (maggie, wendy, and i). i'm so excited that we all get to experience these two great adventures together. making memories is generously donating each of our favorite collections to give away to one of our lucky blog readers. of course i had to pick the just chillin collection for my favorite. and i figured this layout goes perfectly with this giveaway.

copyright creating keepsakes. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i've been wanting to share this layout for a while. it was featured in the october 2009 issue of creating keepsakes, in the becky higgins sketch column. when i saw her sketch posted, i knew that it would be perfect for this layout idea. the sketch had room for 16 photos. so i was able to include 15 of my most recent daycare kids, along with a photo of myself. although as soon as my girls saw this, they asked "where is so-and-so" for a bunch of the other kids that have been here over the past 8 years. i told them i could only do the kids that were here during my digital years. lol!

now if you saw this layout in the october issue, you might have noticed a different photo of me on there. i did change that out before sending it out (but forgot to take a picture), since this photo of me has been previously used for something in the magazine. i admit, i like this photo better. and i did change it back when i got the layout back. lol! then i found my favorite photos of 15 kids. took me a while to dig around the external hard drive, since these were all taken over the last 4-5 years or so. i've had some cute kids, haven't i 😉

i went with the mix of color photos and black and white photos for one main reason. all the boys photos looked great in color. but i had a little too much color going on. i loved all the colors in the girls photos, and knew that i wanted to use the just chillin girls collection on this. so i made the boys all black and white. i think it actually looks pretty cool. all the photos are 3×4 in size. such a great way to get a ton of photos on there.

so, what do you need to do? just leave me a comment. i know a lot of you already congratulated me on my other post, so don't feel like you have to do it all over again. lol! just a simple comment is all that's required, to get your name in there. then make sure to go over to maggie's blog and wendy's blog, and leave them some congrats too. we're each doing separate drawings for different collections. then monday, we'll randomly pick the winners, who will be announced on the making memories blog :)

comments now closed. look for the winner to be announced on the making memories blog later this morning.
a “me today” layout

November 5, 2009

i did one of these types of layouts earlier this year. and i thought it would be fun to do another one. a "me today" layout. no photos needed. just some random things that were going on during one particular day in my life. this went up on the jillibean soup blog today, along with some other great layouts from the other designers.

except this isn't really me TODAY. it was me on october 24th, a sunday. but wait, you're telling me that sunday was actually the 25th of october? i know this now. but that sunday, i really did think it was the 24th. i was living the wrong dates for an entire week and didn't even realize it. came SO close to turning in some assignments late because of it. lol! i know all this backstory talk isn't even important in the grand scheme of this layout. but i had to share it anyways 🙂

i started with just simple squares of pattern paper (all 2.75×2.75), and arranged them on my white cardstock background. originally, this layout was going to be something entirely different, and was going to have small photo squares too. but i liked how all those squares looked filling up the page, so i decided to do this layout instead. i took two squares out, so that i could add my title. loving those corrugated alphas!

then i just added some journaling strips for my random thoughts. i layered some journaling sprouts, with some paper flowers and brads, and adhered them with pop dots. then some clear buttons to finish it off.

supplies:
olive sugar soup staples paper by jillibean soup
orange sugar soup staples paper by jillibean soup
chives grandma's christmas soup paper by jillibean soup
orange/white circle journaling sprouts by jillibean soup
corrugated alphas by jillibean soup
clear buttons by autumn leaves
paper flowers by making memories
brads by bazzill

also wanted to say a huge "thanks" for all your comments on my news yesterday. i loved reading them all, and truely do appreciate each and every one of them. i'm so excited about this opportunity, and it's nice knowing that others are too.

and i also wanted to point you in the direction of a few other fun scrapbooking things, for some good friends of mine.

you have to check wendy sue anderson's blog for her amazing new project that is finally out. i know how much work she put into this, and am so excited for her!

you also should check out erin terrell clarkson's blog, for a super fun mini album she's been working on. she's planning ahead, and making this birthday album for her daughter now. so that she can simply add photos and stuff after the big day. loving seeing her process, and how the pages are coming together. just check her posts from over the week or two.

my new friend, cindy liebel (that i met at the slice infomercial taping), is the guest designer for the month on the making memories blog. she's got some adorable cards up today, and you can see them HERE.

wilna furstenberg and kayla aimee terrell have put together a fun new online workshop, called a DIY holiday. looks like a lot of fun, and they always seem to create such fun projects. so check out all their info on their blogs and the site.
2010 CK Dream Team

November 4, 2009

today is the day. the the 2010 Creating Keepsakes Magazine Dream Team has been announced! check out this list of the new team members:

Cindy Tobey
Deena Wuest
Jen Jockisch
Kim Watson
Laura Vegas
Maggie Holmes
Sara Winnick
Susan Weinroth
Suzy Plantamura
Wendy Sue Anderson

did you see the 5th name on that list? that's me! i'm still in total shock that i got asked to join this amazing team. when i got the email a few months ago, i actually forced myself not to respond too quickly. lol! it took a while for it to sink in. and then it was really hard to keep it a secret. one of the hardest secrets i've had to keep. although that 10th name on the list is one of my best friends. and in some round about way, we figured out each other's secret. without coming out and ever saying what exactly it was. i am so honored to be included with this group of talented designers, and am looking forward to getting to know them all better. which you can do a little bit now, by checking out our little Q&A's HERE. i am also looking forward to working with the amazing people behind creating keepsakes magazine. it's going to be a fun year 🙂

CK sent each of the Dream Team members a welcome gift provided by these wonderful sponsors:

Adornit – Carolee’s Creations, Advantus, American Art Clay Company, American Crafts, Anna Griffin, BasicGrey, Bazzill Basics Paper, Bella Blvd, Bisous, Bo-Bunny Press, Buttons Galore, C.R. Gibson, Clearsnap, Close To My Heart, Colorbök, Core’dinations, Cornish Heritage Farms, Cosmo Cricket, The Crafter’s Workshop, Creative Memories, Die Cuts With a View, Dimensions, Doodlebug Design, Dyno Merchandise, EK Success, Elmer’s, Eyelet Outlet, Fancy Pants Designs, Fiskars Americas, GlueArts, Glue Dots International, Graphic 45, Hambly Screen Prints, Helmar Adhesives, Hero Arts, iLoveToCreate, a Duncan Enterprises Company, Imaginisce, Inkadinkado , It Takes Two, Jenni Bowlin Studio, Jillibean Soup, K&Company, Karen Foster Design, Krylon, Little Yellow Bicycle, Maya Road, McGill, Mimi Collections, Pebbles Inc., Piggy Tales, Pink Paislee, Prima, QuicKutz, River City Rubber Works, Sakura, Sandylion, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, ScrapGirls, Scrapper’s Guide, SEI, Singer, Sounds Easy, Spellbinders, Stampendous!, Stampin’ Up!, Technique Tuesday, Therm O Web, Unibind, We R Memory Keepers, Zva Creative

all these manufacturers were so generous. i happen to get all my boxes on the same day, and i'm sure the neighbors were curious as to who was moving in. a lot of huge boxes. so much great product. i'm actually still working on going through it all, and they came a few weeks ago.

a huge congrats to the other team members. and a huge "thank you" to CK for giving me this great opportunity 🙂
halloween 2009

November 2, 2009

hope everyone had a great halloween! we had a few soccer games on saturday. so after finishing up there, rushed around to get the girls dressed up and ready for trick or treating. although they knew that the halloween photo shoot comes first. i haven't had time to go through all my photos yet, since i took about 118 that night. lol! but these few grabbed my eye right away.

aren't they so adorable! the last 2 years, we really didn't buy costumes. alyssa went as a soccer player for 2 years in a row. so this year i promised them that they could pick out a costume. free reign. well, sort of. and while i didn't really think these matched, i think they look awesome together seeing these photos.

we have alyssa, the "dark angel". just pretend her whole halo is up there. i cut some of it off in most of my photos.

and sarah, our "gargoyle fairy". imagine her wearing brown and white striped tights too. that didn't make the shot. it did make a few shots. just not this one. lol!

i didn't ask them to pose for this shot. they were just arguing about who's wings were bigger. lol! this photo is hilarious. you can see them both making faces at each other, arguing their point. and sorry sarah. but alyssa's wings were bigger 😉

have to share a shot of the girls with amanda. she looked adorable too. i know she wasn't feeling all that great, but you'd never know by how she looked.

by the time sarah's friends, natalia and tawny, got to the house, we had lost our light for outside photos. so had to resort to an inside, flash photo. they looked like a great bunch though! alyssa went off trick or treating with her friend kassidy for a while. so i took the rest of the girls out around the neighborhood, along with tawny's mom (and natalia's mom and dad joined us for a bit). the girls had a blast, running from house to house. and screaming their girlie screams at all the haunted houses and scary stuff. lol! they pulled in quite a loot of candy, and after 2 hours we called it quits. after sarah's friends went home, we picked up alyssa and headed over to my brother and sister-in-law's house to visit for a bit. joe missed out on most of the activities, although he did take sarah and amanda down a few streets earlier in the evening. he had to work, so he wasn't here to hand out candy either. sorry to anyone that tried to come by to see us. lol! i heard that both haley and nikolas came to see us, but found nothing more than a dark house.

and now the costumes are laying upstairs. the wings are all downstairs. there is candy all over the house. half of which the girls don't like and decided to give to joe and i. so now i've been eating all the candy, because it's sitting here and eaiser than making something healthy. and the empty candy bowl is still sitting by the front door, from passing out the one bag of candy that we had and that lasted all of 20 minutes. it was a good halloween though 🙂
scrapbook bakery november kit

November 1, 2009

the scrapbook bakery monthly kit is back this month. heather has put together a super fun kit for november, called best friends forever. in case you missed it, heather has invited 4 designers to be a part of her dream team. so i'll be working with some kits over the next year, along with the talented wendy sue anderson, erin terrell clarkson, and jenn biederman. i was first up this month, and here's what i came up with using the kit.

i paniced a little when i saw all the purple. lol! i have always said that purple is my least favorite color to scrap. i love to wear it, and actually can be seen in it at least 2-3 times a week. just not scrap with it. but these papers are such a gorgeous shade of purple. and paired with the green, i actually really like it! and turns out, i have photos to go with purple. first up, were these photos of alyssa on the first day of school.

have you ever noticed that when i work on a monthly kit, i tend to handjournal all my layouts? i noticed that last time i did a kit. because at the time i looked at the previous kits i had done, and those had hand journaling too. so i thought it was funny that i handjournaled on all these layouts too. because, i normally hate my handwriting. just a funny thing that i noticed.

next up was haley. i'm not always one to be super matchy matchy. but i do tend to pick out my paper colors, by first going with whatever the person in my photos are wearing. so these ones of her in a purple shirt immediately came to mind. plus, i just love that main photo of her.

i tore out one of the pages from the notebook to use on here. i always love a fun grid pattern. then i just started adding on the die cuts and stickers in layers. added a few of the gems, and a few dots of the pearl accents here and there. and i was so excited when i saw the "happy" sticker, and tossed in on the layout. thought it was the perfect touch for the photo of haley and her "happy" dog. then i realized that that is "katie" she's holding, and not happy. lol! she carries happy around all day, every day. and it looks nothing like this stuffed doggie. no idea how i could get them confused.

the other photos that came to mind were these ones of the girls from the summer, playing with their bratz dolls. these photos printed a little darker than what they should be. but just a fun simple layout to remember something they liked to do.

i wasn't totally sure about adding the liquid pearls to the pattern paper. i wanted too. and it seemed like a fun idea, to just trace some of the circles with it. then i finally just went for it. and then i got crooked on a lot of them. and then i couldn't stop and didn't know how to say "when". but i think it adds a fun touch.

i really thought all the "best friends" stickers were so cute. i thought they would be really fun to use on some cards. these are all 3.5×3.5 inch cards, that i rounded the edges of. nice and small. and perfect for the girls to give to their friends, just for fun. and all it took was a few scrap pieces of the pattern papers, and a few stickers. added a little ribbon, some gems, and some staples. i made all 8 of these in about 15 minutes.

i still have plans for the super cute notebook that is in the kit. it would make a great sketch idea book, to jot down layout ides and sketches. the papers are lined on one side, and have the graph design on the other side of the paper. and those glitter letter stickers in the kit are going with it. so i'll share that in a few days.

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